Definitely Unexpected
by Star Ribbon
Summary: How had we gotten ourselves into this situation, anyhow? Lazy days at home had never looked so good. [implied Roxette] [HaynerPenceRoxasOlette friendship]
1. Act One

_Author's Note: _To be honest, this story could take place in a matter of two situations. While I really intended it to be just before Kingdom Hearts 2 started, one could also take it as a sequel to 13 Days and have this be an extension of the events that happened within. Either way, though, this isn't going to be a long one, and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it! _  
_

_Disclaimer:_ Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney, and not Star Ribbon. But I think we all knew that.

**Definitely Unexpected**

"So, why were we gathered here?"

It was earlier in the morning than I would have liked to have come into the Usual Spot, I have to admit. I yawned as I plopped down into the couch. How early was it, anyhow? Something around nine thirty AM? I may be a bit of a morning person, but that was normally when I actually woke up. The others did seem surprised at my tired-looking face and behavior, but they didn't say anything; I suppose they were blaming puberty or late-night reading.

Hayner shrugged at me, yet he still gave me a weak smile. "Who knows," He responded. "But it must be a good reason if **Pence** called us here."

Really, that was who summoned the four of us here?

Roxas ran his hand through his hair as he looked at me. I offered him a weak smile - the poor guy always did look like he had no idea what was going on these days.

"Cheer up, Roxas," I called to him. "I bet he won't take too much longer. It's not like Pence to be late, after all."

He nodded.

I turned my gaze to the doorway as I saw Pence enter the door. However, as the three of us rose to greet him, we could see a man suited entirely in black behind him.

What could he possibly want with us?

Roxas glared; it seemed that he knew the man a little too well. But how could he? The man... looked completely unfamiliar.

"He's a representative from Daybreak Channel," Pence explained, motioning for us to let our guard down. "He told me something really cool that I agreed to, but… before I wanted to go completely with it, I figured you guys may hear him out."

I exchanged glances with my friends. This wasn't sounding so good by the minute...

The man coughed to get our attention (which worked really well). "I had heard that you four get along well with children," He stated.

"Well, it's Olette that's actually good with the kids," Hayner quickly responded, rubbing the back of his neck.

I nervously smiled; he did have a point there. While the others did get along with kids to some degree, I was the one who always got along the best with Vivi when we met up at various stores; I'd been the one with the most babysitting gigs.

The man ignored Hayner, continuing. "Anyways. I was wondering if you four would be interested in doing a special episode for this new TV show."

Any negative feelings the boys might have had about the entire thing flew out the window. Hayner's face lit up; I could see Roxas smile weakly.

"Really," Roxas questioned. "Are you sure that we're even old enough to do something like this?"

Hayner shushed him by placing his arm over Roxas's neck, effectively soon ruffling his best friend's hair. "Bonehead, shush! This sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Pence grinned. "It is. So, you guys ready to sign on?"

"Heck yes!"

We all laughed at Hayner's immediate agreement. "But you don't even know what show you're signing yourself up for," I pointed out. "It might not be that great - and we all know it's dealing with kids."

The man cracked a weak smile as he pulled out four papers and four pens. "I've all talked about it with your parents, and they said that it was a great idea. You'd all make great role models. Now, will you please sign?"

Hayner was the first to immediately loosen his grip on Roxas and sign. "Come on, guys!" He insisted, grinning as he signed his name with a flourish. "I bet this'll be great!"

Pence was the second.

Roxas and I exchanged glances.

"Are you sure this is the right thing? We haven't even read the fine print," I insisted.

Roxas shrugged. "We'll know for sure when it's done. Besides, how bad can it be?"

He was the third to sign. Reluctantly, I took a pen and signed the fourth paper.

The man gave us a real smile. "Great! You won't regret it. Meet me tomorrow downtown and I'll show you where to go."

He handed me a pamphlet, then leaving for the other side of town. I opened it as quickly as I could, skimming the pages.

"Uh, guys...?"

They all looked at me with worried faces. "What is it, Olette?"

I sighed, holding the pamphlet out. "We all signed up to be the special hosts for their latest kiddie show - The Twilight Kids."

"No. Freaking. Way."

I nodded. "Yes way, Hayner. That's why I told you to read the fine print."

So, you guys are wondering why my friends and I are throwing such a fit? Well, Twilight Kids was a show aimed at preschoolers in... fittingly, Twilight Town (it was a local show). While it was a cute show in theory, as it was about four kids and how they taught younger children life lessons, it... was a little embarrassing to admit that you watched it, if only because it was meant for a much younger audience.

That, and well... peer pressure always kicked in. So while I was exposed to more children's shows than others, the thought of hosting this show was a little mortifying. (Okay, maybe more than a little) But - that was why the guy had said we'd make great role models.

And Pence had actually agreed to this? It was a little surprising, really.

Pence laughed nervously as we all turned to look at him. "Seriously, guys! I knew just as much as you did! But... err... how bad can it really be?"

"It says that we're only signed up to do a special episode since the regular guys are going to be on vacation," I added. "But... the Twilight Kids? That's a show that only really, really little kids watch..."

Roxas grimaced. "We're doomed."

Hayner, Pence, and I nodded in agreement. I was definitely seconding that motion - I may love kids, but what was I thinking when I signed that? Sweet lazy days at home had never looked so good.


	2. Act Two

_Author's Note: _ Hehe, sorry for taking so long, everyone! The hard part about this chapter was really trying to figure out how I wanted to word it – I did want to lengthen it out, but in the end, I made it shorter, so I apologize in advance. I know that I didn't reply to reviews for the first chapter (or if I did, I don't remember), but please know that I highly appreciated all the kind words! Thanks so much for even giving this piece a chance.

_Disclaimer:_ Kingdom Hearts is the property of Square-Enix and Disney. I don't think this fic would be on here otherwise, no?

**Act Two**

Well, I had to admit. The studio we were in wasn't actually that bad, especially for one that hosted the Twilight Kids, of all TV shows. (Despite its target audience, it must have been a pretty popular show) We had met the man at the downtown station at about ten thirty in the morning, and he had led us to the studio.

As we continued to walk, I couldn't help noticing the uneasy silence that had cast over our shadows. Pence looked nervous - contrary to popular belief, none of us had really gotten mad at him - about the whole ordeal.

I didn't really think that he was too much at fault for it; hey, Hayner had been much more foolish, even after he knew most of the details, right? Of course, in the end, we were set to do it.

Not much else we could do but go ahead and get it over with, and hope that no one would remember it in the years to come.

Roxas must have sensed my uneasiness, for he had glanced over at me with a weak smile. "You okay, Olette?"

I nodded, trying to reassure him. "I'm fine. But are you guys all okay? I know how humiliating it must be for you all."

The blond dismissed my worries with a wave. "I'm sure it'll work out okay. Besides, it's just one episode, right? The laughter and everything'll pass with time."

His words were surprisingly comforting. "Hopefully," I responded. "How have Hayner and Pence been taking it?" As if I hadn't known. But then again, I had been just paying attention to their faces this morning, and not their words; I was just as nervous, if not more, this morning.

He motioned to the two boys behind us. "Arguing over video games as usual," He responded.

Laughing, I turned my gaze in their direction. Of course Hayner and Pence were close; I could sense it in the petty one-sided arguments Hayner would hold with our photographer. Pence would laugh, pretend he had no idea what was going on, and let Hayner win, even though it was painfully clear to everyone around them that Pence was the real winner.

That was why I guess our group worked so well, though. There was our fearless leader, Hayner, who never did seem to take no for an answer. Pence was our photographer, the one who always kept us in great spirits when we were down; Roxas was the emobucket, the guy that seemed to be going crazy, but he was a good fighter.

And then there was me, Olette. I was the one who kept their grades up; I was the one who was the most responsible and made sure everything was as it was supposed to be.

In a way, I suppose, we were Twilight Kids. We were children of Twilight Town who laughed together, cried together, did everything together. When one of us wanted to do something, the three would reluctantly follow.

To be honest, though, as we were then ushered into a room that seemed to be more like a janitor's closet, I was becoming more than a little nervous about the whole deal.

I mean, here we were, doing a show that not even my little brother watched (and he was going to be in second grade next year!). How was this going to work out?

Two middle-aged men motioned for us to sit down, so we did... somehow. The couches were rather small and... cramped. When it was obvious that I wouldn't have a seat, I started to sit on the floor when Roxas took my hand.

"Olet, come on," He said, scooting over so there'd be room for me.

I smiled, though it didn't exactly end up like I thought; Hayner and Pence thought that Roxas had meant '_sit on my lap_' and not '_sit next to me_'... so… um…

Next thing I knew, I found myself in the blond's lap. He blinked, looking away (but he couldn't hide the shade of red his face had become).

The men blinked. "All right... setting the couple aside, you all know that you're hosting the special episode of Twilight Kids, right?"

Wait, wait, wait.

Couple? Like, he thought that Roxas **and** I were actually going out?

I started to open my mouth to protest; Roxas squeezed my hand as if to say, 'not the time'.

Hayner nodded. "Yeah. So, what's the whole thing about?"

The man on the left brought out a script. "You all are doing the episode on name calling. You know the format of Twilight Kids, don't you?"

We all shook our heads. The men laughed nervously (I couldn't blame them).

"Well, the basic format is that we start the episode with the problem and one of the hosts about to perform the wrong answer to the problem when another host jumps in and says it's the wrong way to do that. The host that stops the first host always calls the other hosts, and depending on the problem, the other hosts may agree or disagree. Since this is a school-related problem, the scene'll change to a schoolroom, and one host will give advice like it's a school course. Finally, we'll rewind to the problem, and the wrong host will do the right thing. The episode ends with a 'what lesson did we learn today'-like scenario, and you guys will break out into a little song symbolizing the problem. You guys got all of that?"

I... definitely did not understand a single word that he had said. I forced a smile onto my face and nodded.

Both of the men laughed. "It's obvious that you all don't know what's going on, but it's very simple. We believe in ad-libbing, so you guys can be yourselves and change the script."

That was a bit of a relief. I smiled, glancing over at my friends. While they weren't really great at acting, they would obviously do well if they were allowed to be themselves.

"Thank you," I replied, smiling. "So, it's on name calling?"

They nodded, handing Pence the script. "There's roles for the four of you, so assign them as you need to."

Pence nodded as he opened, skimming the pages. "Okay, thanks."

The men then left the room (muttering something about crazy couples - HEY!), leaving us to our own devices. It was probably a good thing they left now, as Hayner and Pence then burst out into laughter. Roxas, as I turned to look back at him, was just as confused as I am.

"What's so funny?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

Hayner smirked. "Olette and Roxas, sitting in a tree..."

I had never felt myself jump off something as quickly as I had now. Blushing slightly, I raised a hand to my cheek. "Hayner," I murmured. "That wasn't really nice. There wasn't any room, and you know..."

He waved a hand. "I was kidding," He replied in his usual confident manner. "But, uh... Pence? Who gets what role?"

The black-haired boy looked up from the script. "From the way it's looking right now, Olette should be the teacher. She's good at stopping fights and that kind of stuff. Roxas should be the one performing the wrong deed, and Hayner and I should be the ones introducing the episode."

That sounded good to me. "Okay," I replied. "How long are we supposed to... you know, wait, until the episode starts?"

Roxas gestured over to a chart on the wall. "We're probably supposed to read through the episode today, then rehearse it a couple of times... and then it films on Friday."

"How do you know these things?" Hayner questioned, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Pence and I grinned. "He read the chart," We said in unison.

"Now," Pence continued. "Let's read through this. I have a feeling we'll be stuck in here for a while otherwise."

A full week had passed. True to Roxas's words, we had done exactly what the chart had said - we arrived at the studio every day, read through the scripts we had been given, figured out who would sit where, that kind of thing.

And today was filming day. Needless to say, I was nervous.

Roxas, as usual, was standing next to me. "Olette, you okay?"

It was weird to hear that from his mouth, because, you know, normally, I was the one who asks him that question. Nevertheless, I formed a smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just really nervous."

I patted him on the shoulder, my smile widening. "Hey, you know what we should do?"

He blinked. "What?"

I thought about it for a second. "If we actually manage to make it through this okay, how about we go on a date?"

"Olette, are you sure about that--"

"Oy, what took you guys so long? I was wondering when you'd finally hook up."

We both jumped at that voice. Oh, goodness - was that Hayner? Please let it be him and not some weird kid...

Roxas frowned as he saw his best friend. "She asked me, Hayner."

"Doesn't matter who asked," Hayner retorted, sighing as he shrugged. "It's just nice to see two of my best buds together like this."

I looked away from them, sure that my face was a deep red. "When does the filming start?" I asked.

Hayner grinned. "It should start in about ten minutes. You guys ready?"

We nodded, walking onto the set. Let's get this over with all ready, right?


	3. Act Three

_Author's Note:_ I'm so sorry this took so long, and I also apologize in advance if I didn't reply to any reviews that I had been given for the last chapter. For me, this was probably the hardest chapter to churn out, if only because I had forgotten how little kids' shows worked. So, some stuff may sound a little off/more advanced than it typically would be, so I apologize for that. Hopefully you all'll enjoy this one!

_Disclaimer: _Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney, and not me. This fanfic wouldn't be up here, then, would it? Oh, and yes – the lyrics were edited off the Backyardigans theme song; so that show doesn't belong to me either (I don't know who the show belongs to).

**Act Three**

"_Hey, I'm Roxas._

_My name's Olette. _

_I'm Hayner. _

_And my name is Pence. _

_And we're... _

_Your friends, the Twilight Town Kids!_

_Together in our precious city again,_

_In the hangout we love so much,_

_Where we'll teach you lessons_

_And we'll maybe learn along the way_."

We all sat down on the various lime green couches scattered around the room, looking straight in front of us. (To be honest, this whole thing was quite nerve-wracking)

"Hey, everyone!" We all called in an odd unison that said '_we rehearsed this for hours_', waving to the studio audience that had come to watch the taping. Quite frankly, though, they all made me nervous - even if the majority of them were four years old.

Roxas was the first to stand up. "Hey, everyone! As you may have noticed, your normal friends are not here today."

"But," I interrupted as I rose, not wanting to see any of their sad faces. "They left us in charge of you all today! So, are you all ready for today?"

A couple of kids mumbled, "Yeah..."

Hayner stood next, grinning. "Come on, guys! We can't hear you!"

"YEAH! WE'RE READY!"

Pence gave the thumbs up as he joined us. "All right! That's the spirit!"

"But what are we doing," Roxas asked, placing a hand casually on his hands. "I mean, it doesn't seem like we have any special plans or what-not..."

Hayner looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hrm, why don't you go refill the art supplies so that we can show everyone how to make cut-outs?"

"All right," Roxas said. Turning to the kids, he smiled weakly. "I'll be right back, so hold on!"

He left the room, exiting towards the right.

We all exchanged glances.

"He's not gonna make it," Pence said sadly, sighing.

I nodded. "So... let's follow him!"

As we left, everyone could hear Hayner moan, "Why me..?"

----

For the most part, this would have been a normal day. Well, it would be if we could ignore the blatant fact that an area of Twilight Town had been roped off for us. To be honest, none of us knew it even existed until today - we had always thought that it was just another set from what little we saw from the TV show. But nope, it was real.

And we were here. The cameras were ready...

"ACTION!"

Thus, it was now a peaceful day in Twilight Town. As the sun shone, everyone could see the figure of a blond boy strolling down the streets.

We could all see that Roxas was enjoying the view (and quiet) today; everything looked fine for him. As he passes a tall, red-haired kid, however, Roxas is suddenly unaware of the trouble about to face him.

"Hey, Jesse McCartney! How goes your latest album? I bet that you're still a wuss in it too!"

Roxas twitched. He just happened to look like that American pop singer. It was a coincidence. Not even a big one. But because of it, it seemed that he was getting stupid remarks about it all the time. Man, would he ever get a break?

He turned back to the person, frowning.

"What did you call me?"

The person laughed, slapping his knee. "Jesse! Jesse!"

Roxas snarled. "How dare you!" He dashed up towards the person--

Only to be suddenly stopped by a hand. My hand. Roxas blinked, looking up at me.

"Come on, Olette. Let me beat the tar out of that brat!"

I shook my head. "No, Roxas. This is the wrong thing to do about name calling."

He sighed, watching as the kid took the chance to run away. "Then what **is**?"

"Well, why don't we ask the others about their opinion?" I asked, still smiling.

I turned my head to the other side of the street as two figures slowly made their way towards us. Waving to them, I hollered, "Hayner! Pence! Over here!"

They grinned as they made their way to us.

"Hey, Roxas, Olette," Pence greeted, crossing his arms. "What's up?"

"Someone called Roxas Jesse McCartney," I explained, motioning to him, then to the street behind us. "He was about to beat him up, but I don't think that's the right thing to do about name calling."

Hayner frowned, placing a hand on his hip. "What are you talking about, Olette? Of course that's the right thing to do!"

"See? He agrees with me," Roxas retorted, crossing his arms as if he was about to throw a temper tantrum. "Why can't we use violence?"

"Maybe because violence doesn't solve anything?" Pence offered, shrugging. "In any case, Olette, why don't we talk about it back at our hangout?"

I nodded. "Okay, let's do that!"

-----

In this case, the hangout wasn't our Usual Spot under the train station, but an empty classroom-like room. As we sat down in our bean bags (save for me, who had to stay near the board with a pointer), I smiled.

"So, the problem is..." I pretended to look thoughtful.

Turning to the studio audience, I called out, "What was the problem?"

"Yous gots people calling you bad names!"

"YEAH! NAME CALLING!!"

...Maybe I could get used to this. Those kids were adorable - especially the first one! - And we were teaching them life lessons. But, uh, back on topic. We were discussing the problem.

"Roxas," I started, pointing to him as I leaned against the wall. "...wants to use physical violence against the name caller. Is that a bad idea, Hayner?"

The blond stood up, as it was his turn. "No," He said, crossing his arms as he grinned. "Someone calls you bad names. So, you should totally beat the tar out of him. I mean, come on. You gotta teach 'im a lesson, right?"

He turned to the audience, stretching his arms out. "Do you think Roxas should hit the name caller? Yes or No?"

"NOOOO!!"

Again, the audience response was anything but dull. Hayner almost let a laugh escape him; he quickly responded with a sigh to cover up. (This was a live taping, so we really couldn't afford to make mistakes)

He turned back to me and the others. "The other students think that using my fists is a bad idea, Miss Olette," He said, pouting slightly.

I nodded, attempting my best teacher-like expression (I still don't know if it really worked). "Yes, the other students are right," I responded, pointing to the board as the words 'violence never solves anything' propped up. "Hitting people never works out. Do you know why?"

Hayner and Roxas forced frowns. I mock-sighed, placing my hands on my hips.

"I see," I murmured. "Then I guess Professor Olette just has to teach you the right way to handle it!"

They both exchanged nervous glances; this was not in the script, and to be honest, I hadn't expected to say that.

Coughing to get their attention, I pointed to the board. "So, listen up, okay?"

I then took a dry-erase marker, writing 'what goes around comes around' on the board. (It was pretty big – my arms were tired after writing it) Gripping the marker and using it in place of the pointer, I continued, saying, "You all know this old saying, right? What you do to other people will eventually bite you back?"

I paused, seeing that I had their attention. "Well, in this case, I wouldn't act mean to the person who called me a mean name."

Pence blinked. "Then, uh… Professor, what would you do?"

"I would act polite," I responded, nodding solemnly. "If you tell someone thanks for calling them that and that you're flattered, it will catch them off guard. They may think that you're a little weird, but they'll probably stop bugging you."

Roxas looked thoughtful. "So, act polite and he'll go away?"

"Yeah," I responded. "Just don't act mad, as that's what he wants you to act like."

Hayner turned to face the kids.

"So, guess what time it is?"

One kid yelled out, "Summertime?"

We all muffled our laughter. "No," Hayner admitted, though he did look quite amused. "Let's try again?"

"REWIND TIME!"

He gave them the thumbs up. "That's right! And what do we do in rewind time?"

"Uh," Two kids shouted out. "Yous turn the clock back! Ands we try over!"

"Yeah," Roxas agreed. "We're going to try this again. Hopefully, I'll have learned my lesson, right?"

I grinned. "Hopefully being the keyword."

-----

Once again, Roxas was walking through the streets of Twilight Town. He fingered the money that we had given him to buy art supplies (for yes, he remembered his goal this time).

A tall, red haired boy passed him again – more like brushed against him hard. Roxas winced; the kid laughed.

"Hey, Jesse McCartney! How goes your latest album? I bet that you're still a wuss in it too!"

Roxas blinked. Forcing a smile to appear on his face, he simply replied casually, "I don't know about a wuss, but the album's going just fine, thanks."

The kid narrowed his eyes. "What the heck?"

"I mean," Roxas explained, still smiling. "That I'm actually quite flattered to think that people think that I look like such a successful pop star."

The kid sighed, turning to leave. "What a weirdo," He murmured, walking away as quickly as he had come.

Roxas breathed a sigh of relief.

"See," I called, walking so that I was beside him. "Was that so hard after all?"

He smiled weakly. "I guess not…"

We all laughed; Roxas's face became slightly flustered.

"Um," Roxas interrupted. "I hate to ruin a good moment like this, but I still have to buy the art supplies."

We all smiled nervously. I finally broke the silence by taking Roxas's hand. "Then we'll just have to go with you, right," I asked, starting to walk in the direction of the art store.

"Um, sure," He responded, blinking.

So… off we went to buy random art supplies for the hangout. I looked up to the sun – well, in its general area. It was too bright normally. Yet, it was that same light that reminded me that today was a new day. And a new day was always the perfect chance for… well, second chances.

"Olette!"

I turned, looking back at my friends standing in front. Smiling weakly, I ran to catch up with them.

"Sorry," I apologized. "I'm coming!"

------

The hangout looked even prettier when we returned. Plopping onto the couches, we all breathed sighs of relief.

"So, guys," I started in a weak attempt to keep the silence from breaking. "What'd we learn today?"

Hayner tugged on his hair. "I dunno… that following you guys always lands me in a endless cycle?"

Much to his chagrin, we all cracked up. In-between laughs, I managed to squeeze out a, "No. But maybe something else?"

"Hrm," Roxas began, crossing his legs. "I learned that name calling is bad. Does that help, Professor Olette?"

I frowned – that was sarcasm, wasn't it? "Yeah, that was generally it. And how would you avoid it, Roxas?"

He smiled. "Same way that I just did. Pretend to be flattered and sincerely thank him for his kind words, or just ignore him and move on. The name caller'll get bored and move on."

Pence clapped; I nodded in agreement.

"That's generally it," I said, smiling. "So… how about those cutouts now?"

A figure appeared in the doorway. "Roxas," A feminine adult voice called. "I'm afraid it's time for dinner."

The four of us frowned.

"I guess that means that we're done for today," Pence ruefully remarked. Looking over in the direction of the audience (and camera), he added, "So, let's recap the day while we still can."

Hayner stood up. "So, we learned that name calling is bad," He began, pointing to images that would show up later right in front of him. "And in order to stop name calling, you have to do the opposite of what you would normally do. How should the bully act after this?"

"BORED!"

"He's gonna moves-on!"

"Yeah," Hayner replied. "That's basically it. Thanks for hanging out with us, everyone. We had a great time!"

"_Hey, hey, hey!_

_Did you have fun?_

_I hope so!_

_Today was fun for us. _

_And we're... _

_Sorry to see you go so soon,_

_But we'll be together tomorrow,_

_In the hangout we love so much,_

_Where we taught you lessons,_

_And you taught us along the way._"


	4. Act Four

_Author's Note:_This is the final chapter of Definitely Unexpected. Thanks for sticking by this for as long as you have – I definitely thought that this was only going to be a two-shot, so while it's not that long, it certainly was longer than I thought it would be. I hope you enjoy it!

_Disclaimer_: This does not belong to me – everyone knows that KH belongs to Square-Enix and Disney, right?

**Act Four**

"I can't believe that you actually went through with this, Roxas."

As far as I was concerned, today was perfect. The leaves flew through the incoming breeze, running straight into me. I shivered, walking closer to Roxas.

Stopping in front of a bakery window front, he glanced back at me. "Well, we did finish recording that episode a while ago…."

Ignoring the blood rushing to my face (and the red blush that must have surely been appearing there), I nodded. "True," I admitted. "It's been at least a month since we filmed it. But we've been busy with school…"

"…Stopping Hayner from getting into more fights than absolutely necessary, making sure that Pence doesn't take more accidental blackmail of Seifer… that kind of thing, right?"

I giggled. "Yeah. Don't forget you guys never, ever doing your homework until I bug you about it."

He cracked a rare grin. "You had to remind me?"

"Sorry," I responded, returning my gaze to the sweet cakes staring in front of us. "Though, I really like it that you're doing this. I thought you would cop out."

Unnerving me instantly, he then looked directly into my eyes. "…You really thought I would cop out?"

Erk. The situation was worsening because of what I said, wasn't it? I looked down, pressing my hands to the window. "I…. don't know. You just seem liked you didn't really like the idea of us actually going on a real date."

I could feel my scarf wrapping more tightly around my neck; I saw it drape against my shoulder. His breath warmed the back of my neck…

Ohmigosh.

He couldn't be right behind me. He just couldn't be.

I glanced over my shoulder, and there he was, with a beet-red face to match my own.

"…Roxas?"

His arms quickly came beside him. "W-what?"

"What were you doing?"

"If you must know," He slowly replied, holding up a silver locket. "I… um, got it for you."

It felt like a giant weight was lifted off my chest. Wow, despite the fact that Roxas tended to be in his own world, he could be extremely sweet. "R-really?"

He nodded, coming back behind me. "Y-yeah. My mom helped a little, though."

"So," I began, feeling a smile tugging on my lips as he fastened the clasp on the… no, my necklace. "It was still an extremely sweet idea."

I turned around right after he finished. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I swear! I.. just didn't realize how close he had to be to clasp my necklace. I moved only an inch closer; my feet found themselves entangled with Roxas's…

Next thing I knew, my hands found themselves resting against his body (if you wanna be more exact… his… um… chest…) I instantly jumped back, uttering words that only slightly resembled apologies.

"OY! Olet! Roxas!"

Oh, man – did it have to happen now?

My eyes scanned the area for the source of the bubbling, energetic voices. Two boys hastened their pace, pausing for breath as they reached the two of us.

In-between breaths, the dark-haired one spoke up, "Olette," He began. "The... episode's coming on soon."

The other simply looked at us with a bemused expression. Grinning, he turned to his companion. "Look, Pence," He pointed at us. "We leave them for only an hour, and they turn into lovebirds. Man, the things we miss…"

We both looked away from each other. I rested my hands under my chin, watching ever so slightly as Roxas crossed his arms and murmured an, "Hmph."

I couldn't help it anymore. I giggled, not caring anymore about our predicament.

"So, the episode's airing tonight," I asked, blinking. "I thought the Twilight Kids came on in the morning."

"They did," Pence admitted. "But we all couldn't wake up to see it this morning, so I thought we could do it tonight. Sorry to interrupt your moment."

"D-don't worry about it," Roxas replied, waving his arms nervously. "I mean, you're not interrupting much."

Hayner grinned all-knowingly (which, frankly, was quite frightening). "If you're sure. We bought what we needed already, so we're just waiting on you guys. Just come by when you're ready."

I frowned. "We can go now," I insisted.

Pence's face brightened. "Really," He questioned. "Then let's go!" He took my hands, dragging me over to the side of town where he lived.

Roxas extended his arms. "Oy, Pence," He began. "Wait up--"

Poor Roxas. I could hear the hesitant way that Hayner was dragging him off in. Heck, I think everyone heard the way he was squirming, yelling to let go before he attacked him with a Struggle club.

I exchanged glances with Pence. "…You wanna hurry up?"

He sadly nodded. "That… would be nice."

----

Before I knew it, the four of us were gathered around the TV in Pence's house. So… why Pence's? Roxas's parents were both busy with work - and we couldn't always be promised that they would stay out of the room when they came back (they were actually pretty doting parents - that's pretty scary when you think about the fact that Roxas is an only child).

My folks were out of town for the weekend, so I couldn't have guests over (not that I would have let the boys over, anyhow; they'd probably trash the place in less than an hour). And well... Hayner just didn't like being at his house. Period.

Taking a seat, I handed the popcorn bowl over to Hayner. "Here," I called, letting it gently rest in his hands.

He grinned. "Thanks, Olette," He immediately responded, throwing a few popcorn kernels in the air near Roxas.

To everyone's surprise, Roxas caught them all in his mouth, smiling weakly all the while as he swallowed them down. I clapped, returning his smile.

"So, Pence," I then said, turning my attention to him. "When's this due to begin?"

He plopped onto the couch behind me. Taking a remote into his hands, he smiled as he replied, "Right about… now."

'_Hey, I'm Roxas._

_My name's Olette. _

_I'm Hayner. _

_And my name is Pence. _

_And we're... _

_Your friends, the Twilight Town Kids!'_

Hayner grimaced, burying himself into Roxas's shoulder. "Tell me when it's over," He murmured, shuddering. "This… sounds too cute already…"

Pence and I both laughed, trying our best to muffle it with our hands.

Hayner mock-glared back.

"Um," Roxas started, laughing nervously. "Guys, please don't fight now?"

An amused smile found its way on Hayner's lips. Chortling, he immediately wrapped his arm around his friend's neck. "Bonehead," He reprimanded. "You think that I really hate Olet and Pence?"

Roxas frowned slightly. "I'm… sorry?"

"Gosh, Roxas," Hayner prodded his elbow into Roxas's arm. "You're such a loser."

This time, Roxas joined in on the laughter. The episode kept rolling, regardless of whether Pence remembered to pause it every time we had such giggle fests – "Hayner, stop pouring popcorn down my shirt!" – because sure enough, they took a while.

We all clapped when the credits and ending theme came on; Pence jumped up to remove the tape from his VCR (incredibly old-fashioned, I know, but hey – it works when you need it to).

"We did a good job, didn't we," Pence questioned, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, I thought we did."

"Nah, you're right," Roxas agreed, rising from his position to high-five the brunet. "We were pretty amazing."

I mock-gasped. "Roxas actually praised a kiddie show?"

Laughing the entire time, he then proceeded to bow with huge flourishes. I crossed my arms, pretending to glare at him the entire time.

Hayner silenced us with a loud, "OY!"

Smiling nervously, we all turned to face him. He then held out a medium-sized cake in his arms. As he set it down on the table, the tension mysteriously… vanished. Maybe it was the prospect of food, or maybe it was simply because we were together, and we had survived this huge ordeal… together.

We sat down around the table, clapping our hearts out as Roxas cut the cake and handed us our slices.

"This… was fun," I began after swallowing my first bite of cake. "I mean, it could have turned out really badly, but you guys made it fun. And besides, who could have seen us for just one episode?"

The boys all nodded in agreement.

"Definitely," Roxas echoed. "It's not like they're going to make us do it again."

The sound of the doorbell broke our conversation apart. Pence rose from his seat, muttering apologies to us – and something that sounded vaguely like, "Man, I didn't think my brother would be back this early".

The door creaked open; we all leaned to try and hear glimpses of the conversation (…what are you looking at me like that for?) Not much could be heard; the door was too far from where we were in the den.

THUD.

I jumped, letting myself fall completely into Roxas's arms. I don't know what had just happened, but I wasn't going to let myself fall victim to this… not by being a sissy (or wuss, as Hayner sometimes called it)… not at all….

Of course, I guess falling into the cute guy next to you doesn't exactly qualify as being sissy, right? (Note the sarcasm.)

Pence shakily returned to us. "Guys?"

His voice gave me chills – something was wrong. "…Yeah?"

As I looked up, I could see two men in black suits behind him. In fact, they were the same men from the Daybreak Channel from over a month ago. What were they doing here?

"They… just told me that…. That…"

Hayner looked rather annoyed. "Just tell us why they're here, Pence."

"They said that we're the new hosts of the Twilight Kids!"

Roxas grimaced, running his hand through my hair. "Are you kidding me?"

Pence sadly shook his head. "Their ratings shot through the roof after we became the hosts…. So now it's us…."

There was only one thing to do. We all looked at each other; I managed to release myself from Roxas's grasp.

THUMP.

We all slumped over to the ground, knocked unconscious by the pure shock of it all (and for Pence, I imagine that this would have been his second time).

The men looked over at each other, blinked, and shrugged.

"You think they're all right?"

The other guard turned around. "….Who cares? They're probably in shock from the great news. I imagine they'll be ready to film tomorrow."

So, what was originally a mistake on Pence's part became our worst, living nightmare. Remember to read the fine print, because if you don't, you'll never know what kind of mess you'll land yourself into.


End file.
